NVIDIA Shield Portable

The NVIDIA Shield Portable — known as just "Project Shield" at first, then "NVIDIA Shield" at launch — is an Android-powered handheld gaming device that bridges the gap between modern tablet-style Android devices and older handheld consoles of the past. It was the first Shield (and Android-powered) device from NVIDIA, launched in June 2013, later followed by the Shield Tablet in July 2014.

The Shield Portable is basically the shape of full-sized and featured console gaming controller, with a flip-up 5-inch 1280 x 720 (294 ppi) display attached to it. Despite the looks, the Shield Portable isn't quite as bulky and unwieldy as it looks, and is comfortable to play long game sessions on without issue. Powering the Shield Portable is an NVIDIA Tegra 4 processor (the top of the line at time of launch), paired up with 2GB of RAM, 16GB of SDcard-expandable storage, 802.11 MIMO Wifi, Bluetooth 4.0 and HDMI out.

The Shield Portable runs a relatively vanilla build of Android with a few customizations to make it work best with controller input and always in landscape mode, along with a few tweaks to get the best possible gaming experiences out of it. At launch it ran Android 4.2, but has subsequently been updated all the way to Android 4.4.2 as of April 2014.

With access to all Android apps and games through Google Play, as well as the Shield Hub (formerly known as TegraZone), the Shield Portable is actually a fully-functioning Android device that multitasks and can be used for anything a phone or tablet would be — it's just clearly made for games as a primary use. Add in the ability to hook up the Shield Portable to a TV and act as a console, as well as the ability to stream games from a home PC with GameStream, and this is a real gamer's dream if you have the right equipment.

The Shield Portable proved to be a very capable gaming device for games that were properly tailored to handle its precise controller input rather than touch, and NVIDIA spent a good amount of time getting big name titles to be properly Shield-ready over time.

While the Shield Portable launched at a seemingly-high price of $349, it dropped in price over time to a very enticing $199 by the spring of 2014 as it came around on one year old.

All NVIDIA Shield Portable

After hitting the Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC, Gearbox Software's Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel will be launching on NVIDIA's Shield Android TV, which also doubles as a game console thanks to the presence of the latest Tegra X1 mobile chip. NVIDIA is making a content-curated GRID store that...

NVIDIA has updated its Shield Hub app that it created for its Shield Tablet and Shield Portable products today. The update includes a new user interface based on Google's Material Design look, as well as a group of performance improvements for GameStream and GRID.
Here's the full change log...

NVIDIA will offer online shoppers two special bundle deals for its Shield devices on "Black Friday", November 28. One of them is for the $399.99 32GB LTE version of the Shield tablet. NVIDIA will throw in a free Shield controller for Black Friday sales only. The controller is usually priced at $...

A few weeks after NVIDIA confirmed that its Shield tablet would get an over-the-air update to Android 5.0 Lollipop, the company has revealed that the update will be rolling out sometime later in November.
This would make the Shield tablet one of the first to support Google's latest mobile OS...

NVIDIA announced that two new games had launched on the Google Play store that are optimized for the company's Tegra chipsets for play on the SHIELD Portable handheld gaming device and the SHIELD Tablet. Z Steel Soldiers comes with additional optimizations for SHIELD players and T.E.C. 3001 will...

After slashing the price of the Shield handheld Android gaming console down to $199 from the recent $249 price cut, NVIDIA is back at it again to kick start your gaming with a $25 credit from the Google Play store. If you're not into spending all that credit in one place on games, you can buy...

You may recall our Father's Day contest from late last week. NVIDIA gave us a ring to let us know they had an extra NVIDIA Shield kicking around, and wanted to work with us to give one away for Father's Day. Of course, we obliged!
The contest ended at midnight on Father's Day, and since then we...

Let's face it. Your dad is awesome. Most of them are. And what better way to show your love and appreciation than winning an Android-powered, super portable, tons-o-fun gaming system on his behalf. Am I right, or am I right!?
Father's Day is coming up this Sunday, we thought it would be fun to...

Being about a year since NVIDIA launched its Tegra 4-powered Shield gaming handheld, we're about due an updated model, and a new NVIDIA gadget passing through the FCC certainly seems to fit the bill. Dubbed the "P2570" (the OG Shield was P2450), the new device sure looks like a new version of the...

It seems like it was only last week that we gave you a preview of Portal on the NVIDIA Shield, and, erm, a crowbar teasing Half-Life 2 on the same device. And as promised (and teased), both are now available for the handheld gaming console.
Hope you've got some free download space as both games...

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